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Cambrian Explosion

Lesson Plans

Fact Sheet

Common Core Reading

Meet the Cambrian Critters from Berkeley. In this investigation students study reconstruction of Cambrian animals and compare the animals to arthropod characteristics (follow this lesson plan using the next button in the right corner).

THE TREE OF LIFE

Check out our new Tree of Life illustration that shows how all living things are related.

Over 150 years ago, Darwin chose the tree of life as a metaphor for one of the most powerful ideas in biology: the relatedness of all living things. The power of that idea can be seen today in the ubiquity of evolutionary trees (also called phylogenetic trees) in all biological disciplines, from studies of newly discovered species to cutting-edge cancer research. To understand modern biology, we all need to understand how evolutionary trees can be read and used.

The Tree Roomprovides a wide variety of tools for teaching and learning about evolutionary trees in both classrooms and informal science education settings.